This invention relates to a device for cleaning a compact disc (hereinafter referred to as a "CD") on which an audio signal is recorded.
Record player systems in which sounds cut into a record disc such as an LP. disc are played back by a record player are giving way to CD systems in which an audio signal recorded on a CD is played back by a CD player.
Sounds recorded on a CD can be adversely affected by the attachment of dust or the like to the CD, while the attachment of fingerprints, grease and the like can lead to sound distortion or cause the CD player to malfunction. Accordingly, means are required for cleaning a CD in order to remove such contaminants as dust, fingerprints and grease.
Conventionally, the cleaning of a CD is accomplished by wiping the CD surface with chamois, a cleaning cloth or the like. However, there are many cases where the surface of a CD is adversely affected, as by being scratched, when the surface is wiped in the circumferential direction as in the manner of a record disc. Portions of the CD surface may also be left unwiped.
Accordingly, the applicant previously proposed, in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-89675, filed on June 14, 1986, a CD cleaner having a base the upper surface of which is formed to include a circular recess in which a CD is rotatably received, and a guide plate supported on the base and having one side edge portion thereof pivoted on the base so that the guide plate is swingable up and down. Formed in the guide plate is a planar guide hole of generally sector shape containing the center of the circular recess and extending from a portion of the outer periphery of the circular recess in the circumferential direction thereof toward the side of the outer periphery. In operation, the CD is fitted in the circular recess of the base, the guide plate is supported on the base, a wiping device having a sheet of suitable material such as chamois on its surface is inserted into the guide hole formed in the guide plate, and the surface of the CD is wiped by the wiping device. Since the guide hole is generally sector shaped, the wiping device does not travel circumferentially of the CD but is constrained to move in a direction intersecting the circumferential direction. As a result, the surface of the CD is not flawed. Further, since the CD is rotated in one direction by the above operation, portions of the CD in the circumferential direction are not left unwiped and all portions of the CD can be wiped substantially uniformly in one revolution of the CD.
However, this previously proposed cleaner has certain disadvantages. Specifically, since the cleaner includes the separately provided wiping device, the latter can be misplaced, requiring the user to search for it when a CD is to be cleaned. Also, the unidirectional rotation of the CD may not take place smoothly, and time is required for the CD to make one full revolution.